Crown prosecutor Andrew Tinney SC, in his opening address to the jury, said the murder of Mr Chartres-Abbott, 28, who was shot twice as he left his Reservoir home, was a notable and spectacular crime.

Mr Tinney said the murder was an attack at the heart of the criminal justice system.

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Mr Chartres-Abbott had been on trial in the County Court at the time for the rape and mutilation of Mr Perry’s ex-girlfriend.

Mr Tinney said Mr Chartres-Abbott was killed before a jury could hand down a verdict, so he became a victim of the sort of justice that had no regard for the law; the sort of justice that had no legitimate place in society.

The prosecutor said the jury would not need to speculate on what motivated the man who shot Mr Chartres-Abbott in front of his family in broad daylight on a suburban street, because he would give evidence at the trial as to why he did it.

Mr Tinney told the jury Mr Chartres-Abbott did not die for no reason, but rather because of the oldest and most powerful reason known to mankind: vengeance.

The prosecutor said Mr Perry had cared for his ex-girlfriend deeply and was angry about what had happened to her.

‘‘[Mr Chartres-Abbott] had to die,’’ Mr Tinney said.

The prosecutor said Mr Shea had been a close friend of Mr Perry’s and he was approached to have Mr Chartres-Abbott killed.

He said Mr Shea contacted the killer, who cannot be named, and he allegedly went to Mr Chartres-Abbott’s home with his close friend, Mr Goussis, before shooting him twice.

Mr Tinney said the three men were guilty of murder because they had been involved in a joint criminal enterprise to kill Mr Chartres-Abbott.

Mr Perry’s ex-girlfriend was a former stripper when she hired Mr Chartres-Abbott, a male escort who had both male and female clients, for sexual services.

The court heard Mr Chartres-Abbott told the woman during one liaison that he was not a 27-year-old man but was in fact older than the city of Melbourne itself.

He also claimed he was once a vampire who used to drink blood to stay alive, the court heard.

Mr Tinney said Mr Chartres-Abbott allegedly raped and mutilated the woman at a hotel in Windsor on July 16, 2002. She suffered serious injuries, including a partial amputation of her tongue and burns to parts of her body.

The prosecutor said Mr Perrybecame exceedingly angry about the attack and told a friend he wanted to kill Mr Chartres-Abbott whether he was in jail or not.

Mr Tinney said that in order to get Mr Chartres-Abbott’s address, the killer met with former police officer David Walters and a then detective sergeant, Peter Lalor, from the Prahran criminal investigation unit, at a Carlton pub.

Mr Lalor allegedly gave the killer a piece of paper with Mr Chartres-Abbott’s address. The killer wrote down the address before handing the note back to Mr Lalor.

Before killing Mr Chartres-Abbott, the killer allegedly told Mr Shea: ‘‘He is an animal and a piece of s--- and deserves to go. Consider it a favour.’’

Mr Tinney said the killer, at Mr Walters’ suggestion, attended Prahran police station a short time after the shooting to receive a warrant.

The prosecutor said the idea was that people would think the killer was the last person to have committed the murder if he went to a police station soon after it happened.

The crime remained unsolved for several years until the killer told police in 2006 about his involvement, and the alleged involvement of the three accused.

Mr Perry disappeared in September 2007 before being arrested in Perth in July last year.

Mr Tinney said Mr Perry had by this time substantially changed his appearance, including having long hair and a beard, and had changed his name to try to evade law enforcement agencies.

Defence barrister Michael O’Connell SC, representing Mr Shea, told the jury his client had nothing to do with the murder and claims he had approached the killer were false.

Mr O’Connell said Mr Shea’s position was that the killer was an inveterate liar.

Defence barrister Jane Dixon QC, representing Mr Goussis, said there was no circumstantial evidence linking him to the crime scene and he denied knowing anything about any plan to murder Mr Chartres-Abbott or being with the killer on the day of the shooting.

Ms Dixon said the jury had been told of alleged police corruption in the case but no police officer had ever been prosecuted in relation to those allegations.

Defence barrister Michael Tovey QC said the reason Mr Perry disappeared in 2007 could either have been because he was guilty or because he did not want to be falsely accused of murder.

Mr Tovey said the jury had to ask if Mr Chartres-Abbott was at risk of harm from a wide range of people after causing such horrific injuries to Mr Perry’s ex-girlfriend, not just from Mr Perry.

Mr Perry did not deny he was angry at what had happened to his ex-girlfriend, but he was not Robinson Crusoe.